Teen Prescription Drug Abuse on the Rise

A 2011 study conducted by the Los Angeles Times indicated that drug overdoses have overtaken traffic accidents as a cause of death, and that more people die from abusing such drugs as oxycontin, vicodin, and xanax, when compared against heroin and cocaine.

CBS47.com shared an unfortunate reality: prescription drug abuse usually starts among the young – and right in one’s own home.

In conversations with young adults who strayed from the straight and narrow into that of prescription drug abuse, CBS47’s Kathryn Herr learned that even good families, who come from the best neighborhoods and send their children to the best schools, find themselves in the midst of the horror that is teen prescription drug abuse.

Among those who shared their experiences is Lindsay Winter, a cheerleader and athlete at Bullard High School in Fresno. She shared: “I was a great student I was a hard worker and the anxiety and pressure from high school became too much and once i got that release, it was done from there on… I hid it pretty well for the first year; my parents didn’t know. I continued to go to school. I continued to go to work. But it just began to take my life over before I knew that it was.”

Lindsay was offered oxycontin by her boyfriend, and eventually followed the path that many addicts took. When simply taking the pill did not give her the high she wanted, she began crushing oxycontin and injecting herself with it. This eventually led to using heroin, which was much cheaper.

Lindsay eventually landed in prison, but she called that experience as “the change” that she needed. She now speaks to high school students, in an effort to spread awareness among teen prescription drug abuse at an early age.